Low turnout for Benghazi protests

Benghazi, 31 March 2013:

A strike by employees of Libyan Airlines in Benghazi that had threatened the carriers’s flights in and out of the city failed to materialise today, Sunday. In the event, just a handful of staff demonstrated outside the company’s offices in the city. Protests at a number of oil installations in Cyrenaica were also reported to have been lukewarm.

The strike and protests were planned by Cyrenaica federalists to protest the fact that there has been no announcement from the government relocating the headquarters of the airline as well the National Oil Corporation to Benghazi.

The federalists had massive protests on 15 February but dropped them at the last minute after they were informed by a delegation from Tripoli that the authorities were sympathetic to their demands. However, they said that if nothing had transpired by the end of the month, they would restart their campaign.

It is reported that there could be other protests in Benghazi organised by the federalists tomorrow, Monday.

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